In Silk & Sour Ådlandsvik and Müller utilize their collaboration and their own bodies as a point of departure to revisit photography, sculpture and abstract painting. There is a certain performative aspect in the creation of the works for the exhibition, in which the duo reflect on both themselves and the artist role – using irony and wit. The works show fragments of the situation of creation revealing the duo’s alluring collaborative nature.

CAT scans of the radius and luna bones from the artists’ arms are transformed into porcelain salt and pepper shakers, cocktails into paintings, and evening suits into abstracted photographs. In addition, the office chair of the gallery has been remodeled; fitted with a stove and connected to the gallery door, the artists have ensured themselves that the gallerist will have a warm alert every time visitors arrive.

Despite that the traces of the artists’ bodies and performances are profoundly present in the art works, the self becomes deconstructed and nearly eliminated.

Stian Ådlandsvik (b.1981) and Lutz-Rainer Müller (b. 1977) have worked together since 2006, and both hold degrees from the Oslo Academy of Fine Art. Ådlandsvik also attended the Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg. Müller attended the Art Academy of Bergen, and additionally achieved a degree from Muthesius Kunsthochschule in Kiel. As a duo they have exhibited broadly in Europe. They live and work in Oslo and Leipzig.

The exhibition is accompanied by a paper sharing its title, featuring an essay written by Jan Freuchen, to be released on the opening night.

You only tell me you love me when you‘re drunkHordalands Arts Centre
with Stian Ådlandsvik
Still life with modern guiltMOT international, London with Stian Ådlandsvik
Still life with hyena, lotus and cave17 Programm Kunstnernes Hus, Oslowith Stian Ådlandsvik

Devils Haircutberlin - Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Dresden

If it won’t fly, try using it as a reducing machine Galerie HfbK, Elektrohaus, Trottoir
and St.Pauli Kunstverein, Hamburgwith Stian Ådlandsvik

One of the temporary gallery's walls
was
taken off and transported to
a tuning meeting
in Wattenscheid where it was used as an
underground
for car drifting.
Afterwards the wall pieces were sawed into
squares that
were then differently put together
again inside the gallery.

Heating water contaminated with Chanel ÉgoÏste perfume is leaking out of a heater inside the exhibition space.
Apart from the leak the heating water runs through the whole building as part of a heating system somewhat equivalent to the human bloodsystem.

Maximal speed is a state of restLeif-Magne Tangen, 2008
Lutz-Rainer Müller has again set up an elaborate project. True to his own tradition, the exhibition space operates as a stage, a site for action and contemplation rather then a display site for already finished and closed thoughts. In this way, Müller references what Brian O'Doherty describes in his book Studio and Cube (2007) that the cube (the exhibition space) is a "frame or window between the inside, the artist's private sphere, and the outside, the public".

Müller`s exhibition plays out in four acts, overlapping and reflecting a great interest for the superfluous, the irrational or Dadaistic if one likes. They are all about bringing something back, either in reality or metaphorically - and they are all based on different historical and literary figures.

The first act is Murphy, based on Samuel Beckett`s 1938 novel of the same name. Murphy finds his moment of zen being tied up, naked, in his rocking-chair, appeasing his body. The protoganist operates as a lone figure, resisting the presence of a world outside of his own.
This fascination with "doing nothing" as a state of production has spawned several ideas and project proposals for the show, most of which will never see the light of day.

The second act, Sarah`s smile is based on the myths around the "Divine Sarah Bernhardt". Feted to be the best actress in the history of the world in her heyday (in the early 20th century) for theatre, Bernhardt played almost exclusively male parts. And so it was impossibile to ever capture her performance or, even, to see her smile. This reflects the inherent impossibility within all of Müller's works.

Another idea that will be delt with in Müllers works is the notion of our world lacking both a single truth transcending its respective contexts as well as one might be inferred. Any statements, expectations and meanings are therefore provisional. A flying hat refers to Hans Richter's Ghost before breakfast (vormittagsspuk), 1929. The oversized hat (made in copper) will hover within the space, fall down (in slow motion) any give time and might even end up in a nearby lake.

The fourth (and possibly the last) act of Müller`s project, is that of a retrieval. Müller is currently in Amsterdam where he has located the canal that Bas Jan Ader cycled into in his piece FALL II, 1970. Müller is there to fish up as many bikes as possible to transport back to Leipzig for the show. This action operates as a false archaeology, a symbolic action that wants to pay its respect to the past as well as the future. It also resonates with his long term project with Jan Freuchen (Objet Perdu), last shown in Pierogi last year.

This is possibly the first exhibition by Müller that shows the multiple layers of his interests and telling various stories at once in an attempt to generate narratives. He dwells on the impossible as in his search for Bas Jan Ader's bike in the canal and in contemplating the smile of Sarah Bernhardt. Also his profound interest in escapism and solipsism are expressed very clearly here. The show will not only have newer works but parts of elder works will be shown. There will be a signed and numbered limited edition catalogue available.

Six mirrors installed to steal the light off the
street and lead its reflection over a house and
through the backyard into the gallery room,
which was situated in the basement.
The exhibition was unconsciousely turned on
and off by the city of Oslo.

The framed picture inside the exhibition space depicts the artist's
mother photoraphed by his father. For the opening night the artist
invited a member of the local renegades club to show up and performe
a burn out with his motorcycle inside the space.